The present invention generally relates to vascular access ports. In particular, the present invention relates to vascular access ports having associated physiological sensors.
Implantable vascular access ports (VAP) are used extensively in the medical field when recurrent infusions of therapeutic agents into a patient's circulatory system are required over extended periods of time. Such VAPs generally include a housing containing a reservoir and septum, with a catheter extending from the housing. The VAP housing is implanted in a subcutaneous pocket at an accessible location such as the arm, and the catheter extends from the housing to a remote vascular location to provide convenient, repeatable access to the patient's venous or arterial system in the body. In the subcutaneous pocket, the septum of the VAP may be pierced by a needle that is coupled via appropriate tubing to a therapeutic agent source in an intravenous bag or infusion pump, for example, so that the therapeutic agents may be administered. Such a vascular access system may be used in the home or other outpatient settings, as well as inpatient hospital settings.
When infusing therapeutic agents, it is important to monitor certain patient physiological parameters in order to assess if the therapeutic agent is having the desired benefit and/or is causing detrimental side effects. For example, home infusions of antibiotics are often prescribed for patients suffering from aggressive bacterial infections. These infusions are administered for weeks and then terminated if no apparent clinical symptoms exist. In some instances, however, patients remain infected even though no symptoms exist. The residual infection often manifests itself as random temperature spikes lasting for tens of minutes (known as infection rebound or breakthrough) and the patient may or may not be aware of its existence. As such, patient temperature should be monitored because such temperature spikes should signal the attending physician to change antibiotics. As another example, infused inotropic or antihypertensive drugs require patient blood pressure monitoring because of possible hypo or hypertension side effects that may be life threatening.
Conventional options for monitoring temperature include oral, rectal, ear or skin type temperature measurement devices. Blood pressure monitoring typically includes a blood pressure cuff device. In addition to inconvenience, these devices are not desirable due to lack of continuous monitoring and lack of patient compliance in outpatient settings. For example, because temperature spikes only last a brief period of time as discussed above, periodic monitoring may not catch the temperature spike. Furthermore, because these monitoring devices require patient use, and because typical patients do not have professional health care training, the devices are susceptible to incorrect usage, potentially resulting in erroneous measurements.
Thus, there is a need for a monitoring device that is convenient to the patient as well as the physician, provides the potential for continuous monitoring, and reduces patient non-compliance.